The deepest basis for our bodily reactions and responses to external and internal changes is our need to survive.

It is both our individual survival and our survival as a family, tribe, and species that drives stress behavior.

The survival stress reaction is called the “Fight or Flight” response. This is deeply seated in our survival brain and is body based. Strong hormones surge through the body and effect breathing, heart rate, digestion, thinking, emotions.

The most common stressors, according to statistics, are:
• Death of a loved one
• Divorce
• Loss of a job
• Increase in financial obligations
• Getting married
• Moving into a new home
• Chronic illness or injury
• Emotional problems (depression, anxiety, anger, grief, guilt, low self-esteem)